Only Death Can Set Me Free
by Violetrose25
Summary: But that just isn't in the cards. June came to Midian to die. She didn't want anything more. Was that so much? Life has had its fun with her, right? No. Instead, She's given a life she can never escape from. And must find the last thing she wanted and what she never deserved. Forgiveness and happiness. (M for smut, some violence, and language. What'd you expect? OC/Peloquin).
1. Chapter 1

**I had this impulse to write this story... here's what I'm putting out. I'm not really sure when this takes place in the grand scheme of things, so I will say it's a slightly Alternate universe. I just had this idea and it stuck, so now I'm writing this. I doubt anyone will read this, it's not a very popular fandom, but Hell, I love the shit out of this movie and the book. And, as it's pretty easy to see by the fact that he's the main focus, Peloquin. So if you are reading this, enjoy! I sincerely hope it's good. I own nothing, except my OC June. Don't let her cheery name fool you.**

* * *

June smelled the night. Intoxicating. Musk and mist and the promising scent of rotten bones. The graveyard was a little ways ahead. Despite her worn out limbs and exhausted mind, the lure of her destination allowed June an extra burst of strength. It had been a horrible, terribly long trip to get here. But it was right there. The tombstones. The great bleak gates that hung over her with their looming shadows and ancient rust. And, if the loons weren't really loons at all, like she'd come so fervently to believe...

Midian.

Where the monsters live.

She wasn't sure what she expected, as far as the whole "monsters" part went, but she was sure they wouldn't disappoint. If they were real. June waded through the tall grass as she made her way to the front gate. She grabbed a hold of one of the bars, feeling it's flaky, crumbling texture, and pulled. With a great creak, the left side swung open. June smiled weakly.

Now inside, June was finally beginning to realize just how immense this place was. She could barely, if at all, see the bborder, but that could easily be due to the time of night. But she didn't think that. It was just fucking huge.

There were high mausoleums that towered over the twenty two year old. Their shadows engulfed her and spat her out as she passed. Her eyes wandered to some of the statues. Weeping angels. They were just as unsettling in person as they were in name. Saints and martyrs were carved into some of the headstones, all praying over the decaying bones beneath them. June sighed. She'd lost faith in such things as saints a long time ago. Not God, she believed in God. It was the humans that represented Him... Her... that she didn't feel the need to pray to.

Just tokens, pretty faces for us to feel some some sort of connection to, and just because they were mortal... like us.

She kept going, shivering at the September cold. With her hair so short in all but the front, June's neck was subject to the weather. The thin clothes didn't help. Just what she wore in the hospital. T-shirt, leggings, boots. She even got to keep the shoelaces.

June had this feeling, a crawling sensation up her spine, that told her that she was being watched.

Good. That was a good sign.

Unfortunately, she didn't know exactly where she was going. Not like there was specific grave marker that'd advertise the entrance to Midian. But hey, that was part of the fun, right? She'd happily wander around for a few nights, it's not like she had anything else on her agenda. Nowhere to go back to, after all.

She'd wander around for a while, sleep during the day, wander, eat some food out of her satchel, wander more, sleep. Rince and repeat until she either found what she was looking for or gave up in despair.

Hmm, if this didn't work, which was certainly a possibility despite the weird "being watched" feeling, what was her back up plan?

... Fuck. She didn't have one. She sighed, a cool mist pouring into the air. She'd cross that bridge if she had to come to it. So, on with the search.

There was this mist that enveloped June's feet. Cool, soft, moving like liquid. But... there was something off about it. Like it... _glowed_, or something. Another good sign. She was on the right track. But a thought occurred. What if none of them, the monsters, came to meet her? What if they were just watching? Hiding?

Well... She'd wait. Like she planned. Give em a few days. Somebody would come to investigate... try to scare her off, at some point. Fine. That worked out just fine.

June's energy was wearing out, finally. She laid down on the grass. It was time to rest a bit. She was exhausted. Whatever happened, happened.

* * *

It was a short time later that June awoke. There was a rustling in the grass, rhythmic. Feet. She smiled to herself. This was GOOD. So good. June stretched her body, sore but not immobile, and stood. She was stiff, freezing and filthy. Moss and grime covered her legs. But no matter.

She heard soft whispers, more footsteps. June didn't dare call out, for fear of scaring whoever was up here off. She was an intruder, after all.

Just a moment later, June was up against the side of a mausoleum, a set of clawed fingers around her slender neck. She could barely breathe, and her eyes were bulging at the sudden attack. In the darkness, she could barely make out what was causing her predicament. But she saw two glowing blue eyes.

"Who are you?" The creature asked in a deep, throaty voice.

He loosened his grip on her neck just a fraction so she could answer.

"June. June Andrews."

"What the fuck are you doing here? A graveyard, in the middle of the night, don't you know the monsters come out at night?" He said with a delightfully evil chastising tone.

"I know. It's why I'm here." She said.

"Is that so?"

"Yes." She replied, calm and collected.

"You on a monster hunt? Is that what you want? A story to take with you when you leave?" The claws scratched her skin, drawing a bit of blood. It was obvious he had no intention of letting her leave. Good.

"No."

"Oh? What's your purpose, then?"

"Midian."

He growled. "You want to join us. You think you're one of the breed?"

"...No."

"Then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE?! You aren't leaving, you know. I could gut you right now... or slice your pretty little throat... So I suggest you give me a goddamn answer."

"Peloquin..." Another voice said from corner. "... Stop."

"Kinski. This isn't your concern."

"It IS my concern."

The other man, monster, walked up to June and this... Peloquin. He was standing in full view of the moon, so June got a good look at him. HIs body was large, stocky, like a weight lifter. But his face... his face was a moon. A half moon. As in his skull was the shape of a half moon. June would have marveled at this, but she had her task at hand to worry about.

"Why have you come here?" This moon-man, Kinski asked.

"I've come here to die." She said simply.

The grip on her neck slackened completely, and Peloquin stepped into the light. His skin was a shade of crimson and orange blended together, one hand dripping with blood. His head was reptilian in nature, she thought. His teeth were all pointed, bared behind large orange lips. A flattish, large nose and full cheeks. He had no hair, but instead ropes of skin, much like dreadlocks, falling down to his shoulders. They were patterned with white markings. Fascinating looking man, she thought.

"Die?" He repeated.

"Yes."

He exchanged a look of supreme confusion with Kinski. "You have come a long way for a task so simple. Could you not just end your own life?"

She stepped into the light, baring her wrists for them. "You think I haven't tried?"

Her skin was decorated with horrible scars, obviously from previous suicide attempts. Some were horizontal, just little slits. But some... some were vertical, and those were the ones that really got the job done, gnarled and jagged.

"After a while, after so many years, you realize the world just won't let you go. Take matters into your own hands, they lock you up where there's nothing for your hands to use."

She dropped to her knees. "So please, for the love of God, kill me. Slice my throat, gut me, eat my flesh, whatever you want. Just end me. Nobody will come for my body."

The two monsters stood there for several seconds, blinking. Taken aback. Here was a pitiful Natural. Her face was pallid, without coloring or life. Lips cracked, dark hair matted, throat now bloody. Here she lay, looking up at them with empty blue eyes, pleading for death.

Peloquin was happy to do the job, raising his hand and preparing to strike, but Kinski stopped him.

"You know you can't."

"She WANTS me to."

"We'll be banished."

"Who's going to know?" Peloquin asked.

"They'll know." Kinski replied in a dark voice.

"She's MEAT, Kinski."

"You can't."

Peloquin growled in frustration. "Well then what the fuck do you want me to do? We can't let her leave."

June didn't like the sound of this. Her hopes of oblivion were fading, permanent respite from all her misery and guilt. She was desperate. So she did something she thought would influence their argument.

"If you let me go... I'll tell about you. I'll lead any religious nuts I can find to this place and end you all."

That got their attention. Peloquin looked as of he was going to rip her apart right then and there, but the moon faced Kinski held him back.

"You HEARD HER! Let me GO you bastard!"

Peloquin thrashed, biting and screeching. June awaited his escape, welcomed his promise of demise. But he calmed down after a bit.

"We can take her below..."

"But she said..."

"I know an empty threat when I see one. She's desperate. Besides, it's not like she's going, either way."

Peloquin sighed heavily. "Fine. We'll see what Lylesburg has to say about this. But if she tries anything, exile or no, I will comply with her wishes."

This was not a threat to June as much as it was to Kinski. June found herself being hauled off, a reptilian hand around her waist and one at her neck. She thought about fighting back, but before she had a chance to, she was knocked unconscious.

She just couldn't catch a break.

AUTHORS NOTE: I HOPE THIS TURNED OUT WELL! THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW! I WANT TO KNOW HOW I DID. :)


	2. Chapter 2

June awoke somewhere... somewhere that felt almost alien. She felt a cold, stifling chill down her spine. June knew, or thought she knew, that she did NOT belong here. Her eyes tried to focus tthemselves. It was dark. Or at least low-lit. The walls around her were somehow encasing, like a grave. Her hand extended to touch it. Earth. She was touching earth.

... Was she dead? Had the monsters done as she'd asked? Was this purgatory? A waiting room for her until judgement, her own burial site?

There were voices... several. Two she recognized, one quite distinctly. It was deep, almost inhumanly so. The voice of a beast. June hoped, prayed even, that these were echoes, just distorted memories of her final moments.

She sat up. June immediately felt an all too familiar feeling. Pain. Her heart sank. She wasn't dead. Her frontal lobe felt like there was a drum beating on her gray matter. This, thinking back to her last conscious memory, was no surprise. June had been knocked out. And she was hoping the blow had killed her. But no. She knew where she must be, if not in some stage of the afterlife.

Midian.

June felt a curious sensation. A secondary throb, coming from her left shoulder. Hesitantly, June allowed her hand to touch the source. It was raw, very sensitive. I didn't hurt, it just... was sensitive. Almost... sensually so. Not like she had much experience with that... hell, she didn't have ANY really, but she wasn't a child. She wasn't an idiot. And... Well, she didn't really know how to explain it.

There was a sense of... energy... flowing from it. A sort of knowing, breathing energy. It was the strangest thing.

But that really was the least of her problems at the moment. She was in Midian. She knew this wasn't normal. For a human to be here. They'd brought her down, but why? To what end? Perhaps they had to ask permission to kill her?

The voices were drawing closer. There was an opening, she noticed. With cloth over it. The silhouettes of three came into view, then pulled the curtain aside.

Lizard man and moon-face. The names... What were they?

_Peloquin and Kinski._

The names popped into her mind just as she was pondering what they were. Her mind, in spite of its wounded state, seemed to have gained a sharp edge to it. Clarity. Or at least moments of it.

The other man she didn't know. He was older, long dark hair and a lanky beard, and his eyes looked tired. But there was something... powerful... about him. Something in his gait commanded respect.

"Hello." He said.

She didn't know how to respond, so she nodded once. The old man approached her, kneeling. One hand outstretched, this man touched the wound upon her neck. June was frozen. She feared one flinch would spell disaster.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked gently.

She did not speak.

"Answer him." She heard Kinski say.

"A wound..."

"Yes. But it's more than that. It is a mark. A bite. It means that you are nightbreed."

This statement washed over her like some sort of Tsunami. Nightbreed. She was... But... No... No!

"No..." She said. The spell was broken. "I don't want this. Why would you do this?"

"It was Peloquin's bite. You should be grateful. It was either this or death."

Her gaze turned to the creature in question. He was standing in the entryway, emotionless.

"_Why?"_

"You threatened us. We couldn't allow you to leave." He said simply.

"Can't you just KILL me?"

The old man stood, gazing down at the woman. She cowered.

"You are already dead."

Dead? Dead?! No, no that was impossible. It went against everything June knew... it went against reality. But then again, didn't this whole place do such a thing? She thought of that... the consequences. One couldn't kill that which was already dead. And even if it was possible, if she could die... June doubted anybody would care to do the job for her.

"So I... I have to stay here?"

"Leaving won't do you any good." Peloquin said, leaning against the wall. "It's not as if you can just... go back."

"Yes. You will never be accepted by the Naturals." The old man agreed. "But no, you can't. What's below, remains below."

She was stuck here. She was stuck here in the pit with the monsters.

"What happens if I go up?" She asked, hoping the penalty would be putting an end to her existence.

"If there's a natural up there when you go up, you'll be exiled. That's the law."

Well shit. That was out of the question. June had nowhere to go back to. Well, maybe the hospital, but why the fuck would she do THAT?! Plus, if what they said was true, if she WAS one of them, there'd be no point! No, she'd rather stay below, with these creatures. Strange how this was the lesser of two evils.

"If you go up during the day, you'll die."

Her whole body snapped to attention. "But I'm already dead..."

"Yes. But the sun puts an end to you, permanently."

Though she didn't say this, June couldn't have heard better news. There WAS a way out.

"I understand." She said quietly.

Good." He said, taking out a cigarette. "I've got other important things to attend to, so I'll leave you now."

The old man walked to the door, stopping to say something to the others. They nodded, and he exited. Moon-faced Kinski followed behind, leaving only one behind. Peloquin. The one that had done this to her.

At the moment she couldn't find it in her heart to feel any anger towards him. June was consumed by the thought of sweet, sweet oblivion. She didn't give one shit about about anything else. Why had he done this? Who cared. Yesterday's news. If she could end her suffering, by God she would. Midian didn't give her the death she'd been promised.

Time for one last effort.

She stood up, feeling strangely energized, and walked to the entrance.

"And where, exactly, do you think you're going?" Peloquin asked, amusement seeping from his voice. He grabbed her arm. "If you're thinking about going up to end yourself, you can forget it."

"Are you going to stop me?"

He laughed. "No. I'm saying you've only been dead for... hmm... a day or so. You haven't been nightbreed long enough. You'll have to wait a few months before the sun is actually fatal."

"... Why don't I believe you?" June replied, though she felt her heart drop.

"Because you're too desperate to accept anything else as truth."

Peloquin, still clutching June's arm, pushed her against the side of the entrance. He loomed over her. "I don't see why you're so anxious to die. I think you'll find this place offers forgiveness for whatever the fuck it is you're running from."

"I don't want forgiveness." She whispered.

The creature shrugged. "That's your choice. But you still have to wait before you can bubble away in the sunshine."

He moved in closer, his eyes taking on an air that June found unnerving. He gave her a look that made her insides turn to jell-o, and her mouth run dry. And not in a way that was pleasant.

"In the meantime, I can think of a few ways to take your mind off things."

Her eyes widened. Was he... was he suggesting what she thought he was? June thought for a second. The mental stutter she'd had at that statement needed to pass. ...Okay...

Yep.

Yes, yes he was. He was definitely suggesting that.

Okay, time to go. Being propositioned by a human lizard was where she drew the line. It was too much. Her capacity to handle what was happening had overflowed. June yanked her arm away and began to run.

He had to have been lying about the sun, right? RIGHT?

AUTHORS NOTE: WOW! I'M REALLY SURPRISED THAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS STORY! O.O BUT THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I REALLY HOPE THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT OKAY, I'M WORRIED ABOUT EVERYONE BEING OOC. THANKS FOR READING AND SUPPORTING!


	3. Chapter 3

She heard the echoes of the city, the laughter and music and brawling and growling, love making and whispering and many things she didn't want to think about. June wandered through Midian, a maze of tunnels and bridges, as a stranger in a foreign land. She felt isolated, but this was not an unfamiliar feeling. She'd felt alone for years... years and years... June looked down at her wrists, as if to remind herself. To punish herself, even.

A series of failures, each scar was a token of her mistakes. Regrets. Pains. All that melancholy shit. It's nothing new to feel isolated.

What WAS new, however, was... June didn't even know how to describe it. She looked around at the inhabitants of Midian. There was a sort of... bore-woman, banging upon a drum in the wall. An artist examining his pale, corpse-like models. A man in a wife-beater and jeans with a misshapen head, crawling with insects. Some very large man eating eels out of a fish bowl.

She didn't feel fear, but she attributed that to sheer indifference, or perhaps knowing she was already dead. ... Dead. Dead. She was dead.

Whatever train of thought she had, it stopped there. For the moment, at least. June placed a hand over her heart. Then moved two fingers to her neck. Wrist. No pulse.

"Jesus." She whispered.

What was more astonishing? The simple idea that such a break in the laws of nature could exist, or that she was experiencing it? ...Both. It had to be both. June hadn't let this fully sink in until now, but now that she had... June wasn't sure how to feel.

Disgusted?

Horrified?

Nauseated?

Amazed?

All she could register was shock. A numb, immobilizing feeling. June Andrews was dead. Stone. Cold. Dead.

Somebody, somewhere up there with the Gods of fate and karma, was a sick bastard. June had to laugh. It was SO God damn perfectly evil! She started giggling, seeing a few of the monsters look her way. She was dead, she got she wanted, and she's STILL walking!

June cackled for about five minutes. Tears rolled down her face. She'd lost her mind a while ago, she thought, but... this was a whole new level, a whole new facet of untapped insanity. June stood, regaining her composure. She was going to end herself anyway, so it didn't really matter. This situation just caught her off guard. And why should it not?

That strange new feeling began to creep into the back of June's head, but she tried to ignore it. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters! Oblivion is only a few feet above her head!

... She hoped.

That lizard mans' words popped into her head. A few months, she'd have to wait. How many? Three? Four? SIX? What a torture,awaiting her demise in this purgatory! A living death, surrounded by the inhabitants of Midian. God, how she hoped that... perverted monster... was lying. A shiver ran down her spine as the rest of that scene replayed.

The way he loomed over her, eyes grazing her form. That hideous face. He... He wanted to... ugh, that was disgusting! It was incomprehensible! The thought of such a thing... it'd make Jesus cry. June sighed to herself. Seems you can't escape horny bastards, even after you die. No matter where you go. They transcend all breeds.

Still, June hoped she wouldn't see him again. That Peloquin. She was navigating her way to a narrow hall, where a short set of steps led up to... to... the entrance. Her death. Her freedom. Her success.

If it could beat, June's heart would be racing with anticipation. She didn't need to mentally prepare herslef. June had long since made her choice, and comes to term with it. There were no apologies she had to make. They'd be meaningless anyway, falling on ears that would never listen and coming from a mouth that knew its own guilt.

So she sprinted up the stairs, her body taking delight in the exertion. June smiled as she reached the top step. She'd come to a small room, where sunlight spilled in through the entry.

She approached it.

June stepped into the light of day, praying for an end, be it painful or quick.

She waited.

And waited.

Nothing.

The sun was not pleasant, this she knew. It stung her eyes and made her whole body tense up. Daytime was not her friend. But... it wasn't what she'd hoped for. Despite the discomfort, June fell to her knees in the heat of day, and began to sob.

"God damn it!" She lamented, hitting her fist against the ground. "Fucking God damn it all!"

No... no. This meant he was right. Peloquin was right. June was stuck here, with no place to go and nowhere she wanted to be. June dreaded the thought of traveling back down into the tunnels of Midian, living... no, existing there. Where would she even stay? June had no place to sleep... no clothes other than the sweat stained, dirt caked garments she was already sporting... And no way out of this.

"Fucking HELL."

June sobbed harder. Part of her wished she'd stop, quit throwing a tantrum and deal like a fucking adult, but for some reason, June couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't stop. It was all too much.

Then June heard a voice.

"What do you think you're doing out here, pretty?"

It wasn't a voice she recognized, but that didn't shock her much. It was another citizen of this Necropolis, this death-filled house of monsters.

June turned. There was a man. His face... his SKULL... was a mass of hideous, malformed scar tissue. From the top of his scalp to the base of his neck, this mas all wounds. His actual features were intact upon a perfectly preserved face. He leaned up against the entry, wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette.

"I- I...I was trying to... die..." She managed out.

"Really? That seems like a waste!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, I've got my reasons."

The man flicked his cigarette away, grinding it out with a shoe.

"You new here?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Me too." He said. "The names' Narcisse."

This strange monster, with his horribly disfigured face, approached her. He winced, it was obvious that the sun was not his friend either, but he wasn't About to keel over and perish.

He sat down with her.

"Look, I don't know why the Hell you're doing this, but I can tell you ain't happy. You need a smoke?"

"I don't smoke." June replied numbly.

"How about a drink, then, eh pretty? You and me?"

She sighed, too depressed to give a shit about any implications to what he was saying. Then she realized something.

"You guys have alcohol?"

"We're a race of monsters that've been forced into hiding in a graveyard. Underground. You think we don't have a steady supply of booze?"

"Point taken."

"So how about it then?"

June didn't even have to think. "Yeah, I'd like that."

If she couldn't end herself, she might as well get drunk. Not like she had to worry about health issues anymore.

AUTHORS NOTE: SO I HOPE THIS WAS GOOD. I'M NOT TOO CONFIDENT, BUT I DON'T WANNA GIVE UP ON THIS STORY. I LIKE IT. REVIEWS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED! THANKS FOR READING AND SUPPORTING!


	4. Chapter 4

June sat silently, holding her dusty beer bottle. Narcisse was smoking his third cigarette. The two dead creatures were sitting at an earthen bar, upon seats made of broken apart mosileims. Behind the counter was a woman who seemed to have a hand protruding from her chin, and feathers in her hair. Her skin looked as if it was covered in chalk. The woman was silent, with solemn eyes.

June was glad Narcisse had been the one who ordered, because she just... She wasn't ready to talk to others. To try and socialize with these monsters. June took a hardy swig of her beverage. It was cool and bitter and landed in her stomach with the odd warmth only alcohol could bring. She happily waited for the warping of her consciousness that would follow.

June suddenly felt a hand clap her on the shoulder, grasping tightly.

"Come on, sexy, cheer up! You're starting to depress the shit outa me."

She looked over at him, the smiling guy who was missing most of the skin from his head. June really didn't want people telling her to cheer up, and she didn't really want to talk about why, so she decided to change the subject.

"I gotta ask..." She began. "The hell happened to your face?"

"I fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch."

She shot him a slightly annoyed glance.

"You know what I mean."

He blew out the smoke from his cigarette. "I ripped it off."

"What?"

"I ripped my skin off."

"...WHY?!" June asked, a little too loudly. Other residents stopped for a minute to look at her, but soon went back to their business.

The brunette assumed that it was some freak accident, or violent attack. But... He ripped it off... on purpose?!

He shrugged. "I wasn't exactly, y'know, sane. When I was still alive."

"...huh. So... what's the story there?"

Narcisse stomped out the last of his cigarette.

"Look sweetie, we don't really like talking about why or where or how we became what we are. It's a painful subject. Besides, it really doesn't matter."

June could understand it being a painful subject, she empathized, but... it didn't matter?

"It doesn't?"

"Nah. We're here, we're forgiven."

"But you don't talk about it?"

"Well... Not when we first meet people. No. If we get close enough, sure. But it's not like we just go around asking questions like that."

"Well no shit. I'm asking because we're sitting here and you're my friend."

"Am I?"

"Closest thing to it."

He shrugged.

"All I'm saying is, whatever shit you had in your past, it doesn't matter. You're forgiven. Those scars on your wrist..."

June looked down, once again seeing her failures, and tried to hide them under her shirt.

"Aw, don't cover them up. We don't judge. It's okay."

"But aren't you curious?"

"Eh, I get it."

"You get it?"

"I get it. Shit happened."

"Shit did happen." Jane said, chuckling lightly.

"When you wanna talk about it, talk. But it's not a confession. It's just therapeutic." He said.

"And I'll tell you my story when we're closer." He gave her a sly smile. "Unless, of course, you wanna speed up the process."

Narcisse wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yeah... Ima pass."

"Eh. I tried."

"You're the second one I've met here who's "tried"."

Narcisse smiled. "I'm not surprised, sexy. Who was it?"

"He was ugly as sin."

"That tells me nothing."

June sighed. "He looked like a human lizard, his name was-"

"Peloquin!"

"That's it. Ugly motherfucker."

"Better get used to that, gorgeous. There's a lot of us."

"I saw a porcupine with tits."

"Ah, Shuna Sassi! I'd risk the quills for that."

"You're a horny bastard, ain't ya?" June asked, finishing her beer in an elongated gulp.

"You have no idea."

"Ooh... would it be too personal to ask...?"

"What?"

"Nah. Never mind."

"C'mon."

The alcohol was definitely getting to her. She hadn't had a drink since the hospital, so her resistance was down. She laughed, running her fingers through her hair.

"You swing both ways?"

Narcisse smiled. "I wouldn't be the only one."

"So you do?"

"... Did I say that?"

"Are you saying that?"

"Am I?"

"Are you?"

"Am I?"

"ARE YOU?!"

June was laughing deeply, laughing at this idiotic conversation, feeling it in her bones. It felt nice.

"Maybe I am."

"Aha!" She said. "You got your eye on anybody?"

"There's this sailor with some nice tattoos..."

"Oooh. Sailor! Have I seen him?"

"He's got a necklace of dead rats and a live dog."

"...Nice.I'll keep a lookout."

June ordered herself another beer, and began chugging. She was still upset, very much so, about being stuck here. But this was fun. This was nice. It was a distraction. And so on and so fourth.

"Thanks, Narcisse."

"Thanks?"

"For the beer. And the laughs. So... ladidumdumdidididum."

"You're drunk."

"I know. You got a sailor sweetheart."

"I'm also kinda banging this corpse in a dress."

"That's fantastic." She said, taking a swig. "Have fun with that."

Had she been less inebriated, June would've been disgusted. Then again, with Narcisse, she genuinely did not know if he was joking. Even if he wasn't, it's not like she was surprised. Probably wasn't the worst thing that'd happened down here. And, of course, it's not like she had many other friends. Best not to alienate the only person who's been kind.

She still had a lot of questions. If she was gonna be stuck here for a while, June thought she might as well learn how shit worked. Learn more social etiquette, lest she make her existence here even more unpleasant. Maybe, June thought, her new friend could help.

"Say, can I ask you something?"

"Can you?"

"I'm capable."

"Then ask."

"Could you, maybe... I don't know... teach me how things work here? Laws and behavior and social order and whatnot? I mean... when we're sober. And only if you can do it."

Narcisse smiled. "I haven't been around that long, but I know enough. Yeah, I'll teach ya what I can."

"Thanks." She said.

"I'll probably need to get Rachel, though."

"Who?"

"Rachel. Nice lady. Turns into mist. She knows more than I do."

"Okay then. Rachel."

She finished her second drink, and knew it was really hitting her. June thought she'd had enough for one day. All she wanted now was to go to bed. But...

"Uh... Narcisse?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm... where do you guys... sleep?"

"Some of us sleep in beds, some in hammocks. Some... In coffins."

June couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. It sounded so ludicrous. So cliche. So much like a bad joke. She waited for him to crack a smile or snicker or something of the sort, but nothing came.

"No."

"Yes."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"No fucking way."

"Yes fucking way."

"Oh my God. That's... that's... wonderful."

"Wonderful?"

She nodded, breaking down into fits of laughter. It was wonderful! Rich! Hysterical! Laugh out loud funny! Check out your local movie theatre today!

The laughing became so intense that June could no longer make a sound, she just shook with it. Coffins! Monsters slept in coffins! She imagined, briefly, all of the ones she'd met just lying there with their arms folded, criss crossed over their chests, dressed in all black or in bandages or with bolts in their neck. Ominous organ music played in the background.

This sent tears rolling down her cheeks. Narcisse just looked at her, amused.

"I vant to suck your Vlood!" She said after a bit.

A few people looked at her strangely, but she paid no mind.

"She's hammered." Narcisse explained.

June felt herself being hoisted to her feet, one arm over a shoulder.

"Time for bed, sweetheart."

"Coffin time!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, yes, coffin time."

He led the drunken woman down a flight of stairs, through a few hallways, and into an empty chamber.

"Skulls!" She said.

"Yes, those are skulls. Now let's get you in your coffin."

Narcisse helped June to lay back in her new bed. The interior was a soft red velvet, covered with dust from the ages upon ages of the dead. At the time, June did not mind, or even care. There was time to worry about the implications of all this later. For now, she thought, sleep.

AUTHORS NOTE: HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED! THANKS FOR READING AND SUPPORTING!


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